we can burn brighter than the sun
by sparklylulz
Summary: If anything, Sectionals taught them how incredibly lucky they were to have each other. -Drabbles for each character following 'Hold On To Sixteen'


**a/n: **I know I'm not the only one who found this week's Glee episode to be absolutely stunning and, dare I say it, up to season one quality. So here's some drabbles for the characters following the events of this week.

–

**we can burn brighter than the sun**

_'The moon is on my side, I have no reason to run;_

_so will someone come and carry me home tonight?'_

–

_**Rachel.**_

She spends the few days leading up to Sectionals crying herself to sleep at night, because no matter how many times Finn says he loves her, there's a hole in her heart that only New York can fill and it gets bigger and bigger every day.

It's a knock in chest watching New Directions from the sidelines, she craves to be up there but not for a solo or the spotlight, but because they're all having so much _fun_ onstage.

It strikes her that two years ago she would have found their performance lacking, but now she thinks that together they're all flawless.

Even though she craves New York and all that comes with it, when she's spinning with the rest of glee club, she thinks that Lima, Ohio has it's perks too.

–

_**Santana.**_

Losing Sectionals sucks, like a lot, but having Brittany there to take her hand afterwards is infinitely better than last year's victory. She pulls the blonde girl closer to her and breathes in deeply, still afraid she'll disappear at any moment.

It'd be a lie if she said she didn't miss New Directions and Mr. Schue's appalling use of hair gel or Finn's terrible dancing, so yeah, she goes back to them with a smile on her face and warmth in her normally icy heart.

If a tear slipped after they finished singing together, well, those lights_ are_ blinding sometimes.

–

_**Sam.**_

Being back at McKinley is all of his dreams come true at once, which might seem lame to most people, but it was the only place he'd ever had any friends. Friends who loved him no matter his bank statement or living arrangement.

He feels Quinn lean into him and for the first time, he allows himself to be incandescently happy, because they all missed him, even Quinn, who appeared heartless to most who didn't know her.

It's not until Rachel's arms are around his neck and Santana is actually smiling that it hits him: _this_ is his real home.

–

_**Mike.**_

Before he goes on stage he feels his nerves eating away at his confidence and his hurt at Tina only fuels his anxiety. But as soon as his feet hit the stage everything else fades away and it's just them again, like any day in the choir room.

He dances his absolute hardest because if this is his last chance to dance, he's going to give it everything in his heart and it's almost hard to do that when his father walks in and Mike has minor heart failure.

He doesn't stop smiling for hours after speaking to his dad and really, no one else does either. For the first time in a very, very long time Mike feels like they're all back on track and that's enough to keep him happy for weeks.

–

_**Mercedes.**_

When she hears that Sam Evans is back she rushes to the lady's room, telling her boyfriend she ate something bad at lunch, because if she cries in front of him over _Sam Evans_, that poor white boy will be a smear on the hallway floor.

She has never been used to having someone look at her the way Sam does- like he can see every part of her and doesn't care at all about any of the bad things- even when she's being a huge diva. Sam is beautiful and wonderful and she can't let him get his face smashed in because of her.

As they all dance together, she slips an arm around his waist for the smallest moment and he smiles brightly at her and in that one second she thinks everything is going to be okay in the end.

–

_**Sugar. **_

She's never really performed in front of a crowd before, but Mercedes gives her a soft hug and tells her not to be afraid and so she isn't because she doesn't want to let her team down. They could be harsh and cruel but they also understood her and that means a great deal to a girl like Sugar.

After Quinn invites the other girls to the auditorium, she feels heartbroken because she'll have to go back to being the '_bitch with Aspergers'_ and she really doesn't want to be that girl anymore. Mercedes rolls her eyes once before grabbing Sugar's small hand and pulling her along muttering about how Sugar is part of glee now, whether she likes it or not.

She dances with the others and finally feels like she belongs somewhere and she knows that she doesn't mind it at all.

–

_**Finn.**_

He messes up a lot and he knows that- he's done it a thousand times over the past few years to Kurt and Quinn and Rachel, but nothing makes him feel worse than Blaine's anger because this guy is probably going to be his brother-in-law some day and he's been treating him like dirt for no reason.

The first thing he does after they're off stage with the trophy is pull the Hobbit-sized boy into his thick frame in a bone crushing hug. Kurt's stunned expression is second only to the boy being hugged, who when let go, doesn't run away but grabs Finn for another embrace.

Kurt walks away from them both muttering something about being '_idiots_' and exchanges an eyeroll with Rachel, who can't help but laugh.

Finn isn't too sure, but he's not sure how life could get better than this.

–

_**Rory**_.

By nature he's a really happy guy, he enjoys laughter and dance and song so America seems incredible for giving all three of these things to him at once, but even more it's given him people who actually _like_ to sing and laugh and dance _with_ him, which is more than he could say for back home.

After they win, he gets on his phone to call all of his family and wake them up in the middle of the night just to tell them that he has made something of himself in the States and hears how proud they are of him.

When the girls from the Troubletones rejoin New Directions and they're all together he realizes with a pang in his gut that he's going to have to leave them soon and he doesn't know how he'll be able to.

–

_**Quinn.**_

If someone had told her a year before that she would be taking life advice from _Rachel RuPaul Berry_ she would have made sure someone slushied them, but she wasn't that Quinn anymore. It took Rachel's words for her to understand all the anger and hurt she felt towards Shelby should actually be directed at herself.

She had to trust she had done the best for her daughter and she couldn't let the bitterness and regrets consume her or she'd never be able to get out of this godforsaken town and become someone she could be proud of.

Puck holds her in front of anyone and she feels that _thing _she tends to feel when he's around stir in her chest.

Things are changing and for once Quinn Fabray is absolutely okay with that.

–

_**Tina.**_

As someone who likes to live their life in the shadow, she has no problem singing in front of all the people at Sectionals because Mr. Chang's impressed face in the crowd was all she wanted to come out that day.

She loves Mike more than she thought she could love anyone and she's never been more proud of anyone in her entire life.

His arms are warm and comforting to her, because he doesn't want to let go of her when so many others would just overlook her. The days after they win remind her of the first few months in Glee when they'd all realized what they'd stumbled upon: a way to be happy.

–

_**Puck.**_

So the Shelby thing was pretty messed up and he really shouldn't have told Quinn, but sometimes when he's around Quinn and she let's down her guard he just can't help himself from spilling things to her. Like when Beth was born and he told her he loved her- Quinn may have gone through a pretty hard year and a half but she was just as beautiful to him at the end as at the beginning.

She leans into him when they win and they still fit together perfectly, watching all the others' happiness. He knows that these next few months are going to be awesome and he's pretty damn proud of the fact that he can look in the mirror and not hate himself anymore.

Yeah, the gleeks are still pretty lame, but he's never been more proud to be one.

–

_**Blaine.**_

Blaine's outburst at Sam causes a lot repressed things to come into his thoughts and even as Finn apologizes, he still can't shake the absolute horror that comes back to him in flashes from the days spent at his last public high school

It's not until he's singing with New Directions in front the world that he really feels like himself again because glee tends to bring out the best in him and singing with Kurt always manages to brighten his day. He's a little confused to see Sebastian in the audience, watching him with such an intensity Blaine actually blushes, but that all goes out of his mind when they win.

He hugs Finn backstage because they gave it everything they had, then he kisses Kurt deep and long, where he knows Sebastian will see because if it weren't for Kurt he would have never found his own courage or what true love and friendship meant. The world outside of Dalton seemed infinitely brighter.

–

_**Brittany.**_

She's a little sad when they lose Sectionals and she loves being in the girl power group with Santana, but she misses Kurt's funny sweaters and Finn's awful dancing.

She wants to give Quinn all the unicorn stickers in the world when she comes to invite them back to New Directions but she doesn't because Santana doesn't really like it when she touches other people, well usually it's boys, but she doesn't like making her girlfriend mad.

Still she feels so happy she might explode at the smile on Santana's face when the rejoin their friends, because Santana never smiles in front of anyone else and Brittany would give anything for Santana to look like that all the time.

–

_**Artie.**_

He knows he kills at Sectionals, because no one in the group does MJ better than him, still, he's really pleased when the other guys want to include him in the dancing because most of the time he just feels like he's in everyone's way.

So when Sam, Puck, and Finn announce a Halo night and invite him he almost falls out of his chair because, yeah, they're friends, but that doesn't mean they want to hang out with him.

He ends up owning them all, except Puck who has, like, a superpower when it comes to playing videogames and they all end up sipping light beer in Finn's basement, and yeah, it's pretty kick ass.

–

_**Kurt**_.

The stress before they compete from the probability that he wouldn't get into the school of his dreams, Rachel being unable to compete, and that weasel, Sebastian creeping on his boyfriend was enough to cause him to need therapy.

But when Blaine grabs his face and kisses him senseless in front of god and everybody he feels a little less anxious about everything in life in general because no where on earth could be that bad as long as he had Blaine's bright smile and loving hugs to keep his snark in check.

Plus, he's got months to go before his future really starts and he thinks they all should really try to live it up because they've got Regionals and each other to keep them smiling for quite a while.


End file.
